Kosovo national under-21 football team

Kosovo Under-21

Nickname(s)	Dardanët (Dardanians)
Association	Federata e Futbollit e Kosovës (FFK)
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Afrim Tovërlani
Captain	Rotation
Most caps	Ardit Tahiri Valon Zumberi (18)
Top scorer	Ardit Tahiri Florent Hasani (3)
Home stadium	Fadil Vokrri Stadium
FIFA code	KOS[1]
First colours Second colours Third colours
First international
Ghana 2–2 Kosovo  (Le Bouveret, Switzerland; 12 June 2013)
Biggest win
Andorra 0–4 Kosovo  (Andorra la Vella, Andorra; 6 June 2019)
Biggest defeat
Egypt 8–0 Kosovo  (Le Bouveret, Switzerland; 15 June 2013)

The Kosovo national under-21 football team (Albanian: Kombëtarja e futbollit të Kosovës nën 21 vjeç; Serbian: Фудбалска репрезентација Косова до 21. године, romanized: Fudbalska reprezentacija Kosova do 21. godine) is the national under-21 football team of Kosovo and is controlled by the Football Federation of Kosovo. The team is considered to be the feeder team for the Kosovo national team.

On 6 February 2013, FIFA gave the permission to play international friendly games against other member associations.^[2] Whereas, on 13 January 2014, there was a change of this permit that forbade Kosovo to play against the national teams of the countries of the former Yugoslavia. Club teams were also allowed to play friendlies and this happened after a FIFA Emergency Committee meeting. However, it was stipulated that clubs and representative teams of the Football Federation of Kosovo may not display national symbols as flags, emblems, etc. or play national anthems. The go-ahead was given after meetings between the Football Association of Serbia and Sepp Blatter.

In September 2015 at an UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Malta was approved the request from the federation to the admission in UEFA to the next Ordinary Congress to be held in Budapest.^[3] On 3 May 2016, at the Ordinary Congress. Kosovo were accepted into UEFA after members voted 28–24 in favor of Kosovo.^[4][5] Ten days later, Kosovo was accepted in FIFA during their 66th congress in Mexico with 141 votes in favour and 23 against.^[6]

On 26 January 2017, in Nyon, it was decided that Kosovo should be part in Group 5 of the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification, together with Azerbaijan, Germany, Israel, Norway and Republic of Ireland.^[7] On 25 March 2017, Kosovo made his debut on UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifications with a 1–0 away defeat in against Republic of Ireland.^[8] On 29 July 2017, UEFA confirmed that the match in which Kosovo had lost with a deep score 0–5 against Norway was given as a 3–0 victory for Kosovo, this happened after in that match for Norway had played Kristoffer Ajer who was suspended.^[9] This match for Kosovo was the first victory in a qualifying match for a major tournament. Kosovo would secure another dramatic win against Norway at home with 3–2 by two goals from Enis Bytyqi and one from Florent Hasani, that was Kosovo's first home win in their history at this competition.^[10]

On 11 December 2018, in Nyon, it was decided that Kosovo should be part in Group 3 of the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification, together with Albania, Andorra, Austria, England and Turkey.^[11] Before the start of this qualifying cycle, Kosovo in March 2019 played two friendly matches in Antalya with Turkmenistan which won with a narrow score of 3–2,^[12] and with Malta which won with a minimum score of 1–0,^[13] in the composition of Kosovo was the players who would potentially be part of the national team during the qualifying cycle. On 6 June 2019, Kosovo started the qualifying cycle against Andorra which they defeated with a deep score 4–0 and this match is their best result yet.^[14] Kosovo would follow this great result after beating Turkey at home with 3-1 showing a great display. Also leading the qualifying table, for the first time in their history.^[15] Success wouldn't follow as Kosovo than lost a string of five matches in the process in which they only scored two goals.^[16] Against Albania losing away with 2-1 in Elbasan.^[17] Kosovo would secure their third win against Andorra at home with a close 1-0 win. Their last match ended in a devastating loss against Turkey in Istanbul with 3-0 their seventh loss in total. Kosovo finished their Qualifying in 5th place with nine points, only above Andorra, but trailing behind Turkey, Albania, Austria and Group winners England.^[18]

On 26 January 2017, in Nyon, it was decided that Kosovo should be part in Group 5 of the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification, together with Azerbaijan, Germany, Israel, Norway and Republic of Ireland.^[19] On 25 March 2017, Kosovo made his debut on UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifications with a 1–0 away defeat in against Republic of Ireland.^[20]

UEFA European Under-21 Championship record											Qualification record
Year	Round	Pos	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Squad		Pos	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1978 to 1992	Part of  Yugoslavia
1994 to 2006	Part of  Serbia and Montenegro
2007	Part of  Serbia
2009 to 2015	Not a UEFA member
2017	Could not enter
2019	did not qualify										5th	10	3	3	4	9	12
2021											5th	10	3	0	7	9	20
2023											4th	10	3	3	4	8	13
Total	—	0/23	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		2/15	29	9	6	15	33	57

Kosovo U21 has so far only participated in one international tournament in Valais Youth Cup, a two-day international football tournament. In which they finished in fourth place. Their first match was against Ghana in which they lost.

Year	Round	Pos	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Squad
2013	Fourth place	4th	2	0	1	1	2	10	Squad
Total	—	1/1	2	0	1	1	2	10	—

• The following players were called up for the friendly matches against North Macedonia, on 14 and 17 November 2024.^[21]
• Caps and goals are correct as of 17 November 2024^[update], after the match against North Macedonia,^[22] only matches as FIFA member are included.
• Players in bold have been called up or have played at least one full international match with national senior team.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	1GK	Erion Avdija	(2005-03-13) 13 March 2005 (age 19)	2	0	1860 Munich
	1GK	Art Miftari	(2005-01-10) 10 January 2005 (age 19)	1	0	Ballkani
	1GK	Art Hoti	(2004-06-09) 9 June 2004 (age 20)	0	0	Vëllaznimi
	2DF	Dion Gallapeni	(2004-12-22) 22 December 2004 (age 19)	3	0	Prishtina
	2DF	Aurel Kuqanaj	(2004-10-31) 31 October 2004 (age 20)	2	1	FC Ingolstadt II
	2DF	Ledjan Sahitaj	(2004-01-12) 12 January 2004 (age 20)	2	0	Winterthur U21
	2DF	Lendrit Shala	(2004-05-04) 4 May 2004 (age 20)	2	0	Lugano II
	2DF	Fuad Ajvazi	(2004-08-24) 24 August 2004 (age 20)	2	0	Suhareka
	2DF	Arbnor Gecaj	(2005-02-14) 14 February 2005 (age 19)	2	0	Lugano II
	2DF	Leon Zeqiraj	(2005-07-02) 2 July 2005 (age 19)	2	0	Sampdoria U20
	2DF	Julind Selmonaj	(2004-11-05) 5 November 2004 (age 20)	1	0	Basel U21
	2DF	Merlind Kodra	(2005-06-06) 6 June 2005 (age 19)	1	0	Ballkani
	3MF	Etnik Brruti (captain)	(2004-03-04) 4 March 2004 (age 20)	8	0	Malisheva
	3MF	Arjanit Fazlija	(2005-02-05) 5 February 2005 (age 19)	2	1	Greuther Fürth II
	3MF	Dritan Maqkaj	(2004-01-06) 6 January 2004 (age 20)	2	0	Eintracht Frankfurt II
	3MF	Laurent Xhylani	(2004-09-23) 23 September 2004 (age 20)	2	0	Malisheva
	3MF	Diamant Lokaj	(2005-01-24) 24 January 2005 (age 19)	2	0	SV Sandhausen
	3MF	Leon Frokaj	(2005-04-23) 23 April 2005 (age 19)	2	0	Basel U21
	3MF	Elion Jashari	(2005-08-09) 9 August 2005 (age 19)	2	0	Basel U21
	3MF	Valentin Hoti	(2004-02-16) 16 February 2004 (age 20)	1	0	FC Ingolstadt II
	4FW	Igball Jashari	(2005-07-14) 14 July 2005 (age 19)	3	0	Prishtina
	4FW	Ermal Krasniqi	(2005-06-16) 16 June 2005 (age 19)	2	1	Sturm Graz II
	4FW	Aulon Bitiqi	(2004-01-27) 27 January 2004 (age 20)	2	1	Varbergs BoIS
	4FW	Kevin Krasniqi	(2005-07-20) 20 July 2005 (age 19)	2	0	Thun U21
	4FW	Hekuran Berisha	(2005-10-03) 3 October 2005 (age 19)	1	0	Dukagjini

The following players have been called up for the team within the last 12 months and are still available for selection.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Mustafë Abdullahu	(2004-02-27) 27 February 2004 (age 20)	4	0	Malisheva	v.  North Macedonia, 14 November 2024A
GK	Altin Gjokaj	(2005-11-11) 11 November 2005 (age 19)	4	0	Prishtina	v.  Germany, 22 March 2024INJ
DF	Diar Vokrri	(2004-06-27) 27 June 2004 (age 20)	1	0	Llapi	v.  Estonia, 15 October 2024INJ
DF	Valton Behrami	(2004-03-16) 16 March 2004 (age 20)	3	0	Delémont	v.  Israel, 10 September 2024
MF	Elvir Gashijan	(2006-08-05) 5 August 2006 (age 18)	2	0	Llapi	v.  Estonia, 15 October 2024U19
Notes A / U19 = Was called up from national senior or U19 squad. INJ = The player is not part of the current squad due to injury.

Position	Name
Head coach	Afrim Tovërlani
Assistant coach	Genc Hoxha Liridon Kuka
Goalkeeping coach	Valmir Bytyqi
Team manager	Zgjim Sojeva

As of 11 June 2019
Head-to-head records are included only matches as FIFA member.

Opponent	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Andorra	1	1	0	0	4	0	+4	100.00
Azerbaijan	2	1	1	0	2	0	+2	050.00
Germany	2	0	1	1	0	1	−1	000.00
England	2	0	0	2	0	8	−8	000.00
Israel	2	0	0	2	0	7	−7	000.00
Malta	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1	100.00
Norway	2	2	0	0	6	2	+4	100.00
Republic of Ireland	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	000.00
Turkey	1	1	0	0	3	1	+2	100.00
Turkmenistan	1	1	0	0	3	2	+1	100.00
10 Countries	15	7	3	5	20	23	−3	046.67

Men's

• National team
• Under-19
• Under-17
• Under-15
• Futsal

Women's

• National team
• Under-19
• Under-17

• Official website (in Albanian and English)
• Kosovo U21 News about the team